Interesting article from May 2014 about the emergence of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, both predecessors of COVID-19: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4019136/

How did I get tagged as a help desk expert and volunteer tester? I don't remember for signing up to that.

Since distributed computing is pretty much an anarchy I pretty much doubt that.

"I wish we could replace government with anarchy."
I don't, I've watched too many Mad Max movies, I don't ant to go there, do you?

"I wish we could replace government with anarchy."
I don't, I've watched too many Mad Max movies, I don't ant to go there, do you?

Some do wish for the life before the babylonian empire.

How did I get tagged as a help desk expert and volunteer tester? I don't remember for signing up to that.

It's just an honorary label given to those who have been helpful for a while.
It can be made to disappear if you don't want it, just by saying so a few times.
Then it'll be gone again, like dew drops in the morning sun.

Interesting article from May 2014 about the emergence of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, both predecessors of COVID-19: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4019136/

Always from animals, always from the East. Westernised vegetarians don't cause these problems.

Funny that. The plague originated in Africa.

The interesting question from all of this is "How do we prevent it happening again"
Looking at the way the virus was originally transmitted it would appear unrestricted air travel was the main cause.
Governments were not prepared.
Personally I suspect we have seen the end of free movement around the world. Unless we can come up with a way to predict this sort of pandemic, and quickly come up with a cure, unrestricted air travel is likely to cause it to happen again and again.

That's all good & well to prevent transmission on a continental level, but what about on a national level?

It will also take a long time for the "social distancing" mindset to pass from the collective consciousness.

How about 300 years?

The 40 day quarantine for the plague was rigorously established and completely successful for 300 years. It corresponds with the long incubation period that has been established for the plagues of Europe.
Four metres was established as a safe distance of separation out of doors.

I am 69 this month, and have a strong feeling the world has changed and it will never return to the way it was in my lifetime.

Only if those in control realise that what worked well in the past can be very effective today.
Personally, I think that will be an impossibility.

Secondly I bet meat was involved in the plague.

No, just rats & fleas.

What exactly would you like to see them do?

Stop eating meat. :-)

How did I get tagged as a help desk expert and volunteer tester? I don't remember for signing up to that.

It's just an honorary label given to those who have been helpful for a while.
It can be made to disappear if you don't want it, just by saying so a few times.
Then it'll be gone again, like dew drops in the morning sun.

OK, I'm good with that.